Rate limiting data traffic in a network

ABSTRACT

A network device coordinates with other devices in a network to create a distributed filtering system. The device detects an attack in the network, such as a distributed denial of service attack, and forwards attack information to the other devices. The devices may categorize data into one or more groups and rate limit the amount of data being forwarded based on rate limits for the particular categories. The rate limits may also be updated based on the network conditions. The rate limits may further be used to guarantee bandwidth for certain categories of data.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/080,865 entitled Distributed Filtering for Networks filedFeb. 21, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 based on U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/328,489, filed Oct. 9, 2001. Thisapplication claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/328,489, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to data processing systems and,more particularly, to systems and methods for filtering network trafficbased on attacks.

The Internet consists of multiple interconnected networks that transferdata between a large number of devices, such as servers and clients.Routers are used to transfer the data in packets over communicationlinks that connect the routers, clients, and servers.

Protocols specify how each device in the network interoperates withother devices. For example, the Internet Protocol (IP) specifies theformat for packets. Routing protocols are used in routers to selectpaths through the network. Other protocols specify the manner in which aclient requests information from a server, and the manner in which theserver returns the requested information to the client.

FIG. 1 illustrates clients and servers exchanging packets. The exchangesare shown using broken line arrows. In FIG. 1, a client connected torouter C exchanges packets with a client connected to router A and aserver connected to router D. Exchanging packets directly betweenclients is known as peer-to-peer networking. Packets may also betransferred directly between servers, illustrated in FIG. 1 by theserver connected to router D exchanging packets with the serverconnected to router B. Server-to-server communication may occur, forexample, when one server needs information from another server torespond to a client request.

Devices on the network often communicate freely with one another. Forexample, in FIG. 1 servers and clients communicate freely with eachother. Sometimes, however, networks restrict access in certain ways. Forexample, a corporate network may limit network access to only employeesof that corporation and customers. Although certain areas of a corporatenetwork may be accessed by employees and customers, other certain areasmay be limited to access by employees only.

Routers may be used to limit certain traffic flowing through the router.In some cases, for example, routers are configured to only forwardpackets that have particular characteristics, such as certain source anddestination addresses from a list of permitted addresses.

One way to limit access to a particular group of users is a virtualprivate network (VPN). A VPN uses services provided by a public network,such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), to connect particular usersto one another, such as employees of a corporation. A VPN often makesuse of a firewall between all or part of the VPN and the public network.The firewall filters traffic to ensure that traffic entering the VPN istraffic from another site of the same corporation, or from authorizedusers, such as customers, suppliers, and corporate partners.

Servers in the VPN handle requests from clients in the VPN. The rate ofrequests to the servers can be quite significant, and generally enoughservers are deployed to fulfill the requests. There is usually even asubstantial extra capacity for peak times when the rate of requestsincrease. Every server, however, has a limit as to the rate it canrespond to requests for services. If requests arrive too rapidly,service may be adversely affected if the servers cannot keep up with therate of requests. Similarly, a given router, and a given communicationslink, also has a capacity limit.

Networks are under almost constant attacks by malicious users who wishto disrupt the network. One of the most common forms of attacks is adenial of service (DOS) attack in which a large number of requestpackets are sent to a server at a high rate and the server cannot keepup with the requests. Ultimately, the server is so overloaded thatadequate service to legitimate clients is denied.

One common way to perform such an attack is to carry out a distributeddenial of service (DDOS) attack. In a DDOS attack, multiple distributedsystems are used in coordination to overload a server. In one form ofDDOS attack, a computer virus or worm is used to configure multipledistributed computer systems to carry out the attack. The computersystems are usually innocent and are being used by someone tounwittingly carry out the attack. For example, multiple computer systemsat a university may be configured over a network to simultaneously begintransmitting a large volume of traffic (e.g., malicious packets) at ahigh rate to the same server. This results in a very large traffic loadon the server and sometimes also on communications links used to accessthe server.

FIG. 2 illustrates a DDOS attack on a server. The firewall in FIG. 2 isimplemented physically separate from the server, sitting between theserver and a network router. In this implementation, the firewallreceives network traffic from the router, filters the network trafficfor attacks, and forwards acceptable traffic to the server.

Although the firewall illustrated in FIG. 2 is implemented physicallyseparate from the server, some firewalls run directly on the server. Afirewall running on a server operates in essentially the same manner asa physically separate firewall—examining incoming traffic anddetermining whether the traffic should be allowed to enter.

In FIG. 2, each malicious user has been configured to simultaneouslybombard the server with malicious packets in an attempt to flood theserver. In the attack is successful, the server will receive morerequests than it can handle. This results in some combination of failureof the server, severe congestion on communications resources, such aslinks or routers in the network, or seriously disrupted service tolegitimate users.

The firewall is used to detect the attacks. Upon detecting an attack,the firewall attempts to identify the malicious packets and drop them.Conventional firewalls are often implemented in software, but may beimplemented in hardware, or both software and hardware. The firewalltypically performs stateful filtering, which means that the firewallmaintains state information related to recent requests for service sentto a server. Keeping track of recent requests to a server is necessaryto detect attacks. In a DOS attack, for example, any one request mightbe valid when considered alone, but when multiple requests areconsidered together a malicious attack might be identified. Whenmultiple requests come in from the same source, for example, the servermay determine that the source is taking part in the attack and discardfuture requests for information from the source.

Although FIG. 2 illustrates using a firewall to detect an attack on aserver, the firewall may also be used to detect an attack on any entity,such as a VPN. In this case, the firewall may be used to preventunauthorized or malicious users from accessing the corporate network bydiscarding inappropriate packets at the firewall.

Note that, in general, detecting an attack needs to occur at one placesince each malicious user participating in the attack might be sendingfew enough packets that it is not obvious that those packets are part ofan attack. This has led to solutions where detection and defense againstattacks occurs in one device. In other words, the discarding of themalicious packets occurs at the same device that detected the attack.

The malicious packets arriving at a single location creates otherproblems in addition to overloading the server. In many cases the linkfrom the local router to the server and/or firewall will be sized justlarge enough to handle legitimate traffic expected by the server. Thelink from the router to the firewall may itself become so congested thatservice is denied. Thus, even if malicious packets are successfullydiscarded at the firewall, the loss of bandwidth on the link between therouter and the server or firewall still represents a significant denialof service. Thus, even if the malicious packets are discarded beforethey reach the server in FIG. 2, the attack may nonetheless besuccessful, or at least partially successful. A sufficiently largeattack may also congest other links in the communications network.

Another problem may arise because operation of the firewall consumesconsiderable resources. Thus, even after a firewall detects an attack,it still needs to spend some amount of CPU resources to discard eachmalicious packet. This problem is more of an issue when the firewall isrunning on the server, and is not as drastic in the physically separatefirewall implementation illustrated in FIG. 2 because in the physicallyseparate implementation the server itself does not consume its resourcesdiscarding packets. The firewall in FIG. 2, however, representsadditional cost to the network. In addition, the network resources,including but not limited to the link from the local router to thefirewall or server, need to carry the additional traffic, whichtherefore also represents wasted resources.

Thus, there is a need for adequately addressing attacks occurring in thenetwork.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the inventionaddress this and other needs by detecting an attack and rate limiting anamount of data being forwarded by one or more routers. The data ratesmay be dynamically adjusted based on the amount of data received afterthe attack has been detected. In addition, the data may be grouped intocategories based on various parameters or characteristics associatedwith the data. The data may then be rate limited based on the particulargroup in which it falls.

In accordance with one implementation consistent with the principles ofthe invention, a network device that includes a receiver and logic isprovided. The receiver is configured to receive data from a network andthe logic is configured to detect an attack based on the received data.The logic is also configured to transmit first control information to atleast one other network device in the network after detecting theattack, where the first control information includes rate limitinformation associated with forwarding data.

In another implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention, a system for detecting and responding to an attack isprovided. The system includes a first device configured to receive datafrom a network, detect an attack based on the received data, andtransmit first control information via the network. The first controlinformation includes information indicating that an attack has beendetected. The system also includes at least one second device configuredto receive the first control information and limit a rate at which itforwards data.

In a further implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention, a network device that includes a receiver and logic isprovided. The receiver is configured to receive and forward data in anetwork and receive first control information from at least one othernetwork device. The first control information indicates that an attackhas been detected. The logic is configured to classify data based on atleast one parameter associated with the data and limit an amount of datathat is forwarded based on the classifying.

In still another implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention, a network device that includes a receiver is provided. Thereceiver is configured to receive and forward data in a network. Thereceiver is also configured to receive first control information from atleast one other network device, where the first control informationindicates that an attack has been detected. The network device alsoincludes logic that, is configured to identify a first category of databased on at least one parameter associated with the received data andguarantee that at least a first amount of the identified datacorresponding to the first category of data will be forwarded after theattack has been detected.

In yet another implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention, a system for detecting and responding to an attack isprovided. The system includes a first device configured to receive andforward data in a network and count an amount of received data havingparticular characteristics. The first device is also configured totransmit first control information via the network, where the firstcontrol information includes information representing the countedamount. The system also includes at least one second device configuredto receive the first control information, generate second controlinformation based on the first control information and transmit thesecond control information. The system further includes at least onethird device configured to receive the second control information andlimit a rate at which data is forwarded by the third device based on thesecond control information.

Other aspects of systems, devices, and methods consistent withprinciples of the invention are described herein. It is to be understoodthat both the foregoing general description and the following detaileddescription are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictiveof the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates various communication paths between clients andservers;

FIG. 2 illustrates an attack on a server;

FIG. 3 illustrates a distributed filtering system consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a process performed by an attack detection deviceconsistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an attack detection device consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a process performed by a router consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an attack response device consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates piggybacking on link state routing with proxy;

FIG. 9 illustrates use of a firewall between routers;

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary processing associated with rate limitingtraffic consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary processing associated with certain packetsconsistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a network consistent with the principles of theinvention using a central management system; and

FIG. 13 illustrates a dual-homed firewall.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsmay identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of theinvention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents.

According to embodiments consistent with the principles of theinvention, a firewall coordinates with elements in the network, such asnetwork routers, to protect against attacks. Upon detecting an attack,the firewall may begin discarding packets associated with the attack. Inaddition, the firewall may create attack information that is sent to oneor more routers in the network. The routers may rate limit the amount ofdata being sent to the firewall. The firewall may also dynamicallyadjust the rate limit information based on the amount of data beingreceived.

The attack information includes criteria defining characteristics ofpackets that should be discarded because they are considered part of theattack and are therefore malicious. For example, the control packet mayindicate source and destination addresses in the DOS packets. Additionalinformation, such as User Protocol, TCP Port, etc., may also beoptionally specified. In addition, the control packet may contain a timeperiod during which the filter should be used by the router. The attackinformation may be sent in a control packet, for example, and may besent using a specialized control protocol or a conventional protocol.Although the embodiments described herein use one or more controlpackets to transport the attack information, any data transport formatand mechanism may be used, and may depend on the particular type ofnetwork the distributed filtering system is implemented in.

A router receiving a control packet may then configure itself, forexample by creating new filters or modifying existing ones, to detectand discard malicious packets received by the router. These filters maybe simpler than the filters required to initially detect the attack.

The cooperation between the firewall and the network routers creates adistributed filtering capability in that the identification of an attackusing filters, such as complex stateful filters, occurs at a firewall orserver. But the bulk of discarding of malicious packets may occur at oneor more routers in the network. Because some of the filtering anddiscarding is offloaded to elements in the network, the firewall filtermay be simpler than would be required without distributed filtering.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of distributed filtering consistentwith the principles of the invention. An attack from one or moremalicious users is initially detected at the firewall. The firewallincludes attack detection elements, and responds to the attack bycreating attack information and sending the attack information torouters B, C, and D in control packets, as indicated by broken linearrows in FIG. 3. Note that the source address used by the attackingsystems might be legitimate, or might be made up. If the network has theability to check the correctness of source addresses at all inputpoints, then the source address of the attacking packets will belegitimate, and the firewall can determine where the attack is comingfrom, and the notification may be sent to only the ingress routers fromwhich the attack is arriving at the network. If the network does nothave the ability to check source addresses at all ingress points, theninitially, when the firewall detects the attack, it is not known wherethe attack is coming from. In this case the message describing theattack may be sent to all ingress routers (such as routers A, B, and Cin FIG. 3). If the attack packets are well distinguished from otherpackets, or if stopping the attack completely is important enough tojustify dropping other packets as well, then the ingress routers may betold to discard all packets which match the description of the attackingpackets. Otherwise, the ingress routers may be told to rate limit allpackets which match the description of the attack packets. Also notethat the ingress routers may also be told to count packets which matchthe description of the attack packets, which facilitates later analysisof the form and location of the attack.

In response to the control packets, each of routers B, C, and D (andoptionally router A) configures itself to detect malicious packets basedon the attack information in the control packets. Subsequent maliciouspackets from malicious users may then be detected by routers B, C, and Dand either discarded or rate limited. Discarding some or all of themalicious packets at routers B, C, and D, greatly reduces the load onthe firewall and/or server, the load on the link connecting the serverto the network, and even the load on other links and elements in thenetwork. This, in turn, significantly improves the service to legitimateusers.

A similar approach can be used in any network where a firewall isprotecting against unauthorized access to a network. For example, thisapproach may be used when a firewall protects a site of a corporatenetwork.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process performed by an attack detection deviceconsistent with the principles of the invention. Such an attackdetection process may be used, for example, in the firewall illustratedin FIG. 3. The attack detection device first detects an attack and setsup a firewall defense configuration (act 410). The attack detectiondevice also develops attack information based on the attack (act 420).The attack information may define some characteristic of the attack,such as a source, or a source-destination pair, or source-destinationpair plus protocol field, or other characteristics. The attack detectiondevice then forwards the attack information to devices in the network(act 430).

The attack detection device at some point may tear down the defenseconfiguration. For example, once the routers are configured to prevent aparticular attack, the attack detection device may not see additionalmalicious packets for that attack because the malicious packets arestopped by the routers. The attack detection device therefore will notknow when the attack has ceased. Even with normal filtering, attackerscould temporarily halt the attack in order to make the firewall thinkthat the attack is over, and then restart the attack later. This problemis therefore not unique to distributed filtering.

One solution to this problem is to wait a considerable amount of time(e.g., days), and then remove the attack detection device defenseconfiguration for a particular attack. Removal may be based on any of anumber of mechanisms, such as an administrative request or expiration ofa timer. If the attack is still ongoing, or if it restarts, then theattack detection device will again detect the attack, and reset therequired configuration.

Also, either network operators or the attack detection device could pollthe routers periodically to determine how many packets are beingdiscovered and discarded due to any particular attack. These numbers canbe compared over time to determine when the attack ends. When packetsare no longer being discarded based on a particular attack, theparticular configuration based on that attack may be removed. This maybe checked on a periodic basis, so that after an attack has ceased therewill be some amount of time before the defense configuration is removed.

Thus, the attack detection device process of FIG. 4 may be modified toinclude additional acts after attack information is sent to the routers.The acts may include a mechanism for tearing down the filteringconfiguration upon receiving an indication that the attack is over orthat a period of time has elapsed.

FIG. 5 illustrates an attack detection device consistent with theprinciples of the invention. The attack detection 500 may be used toperform the attack detection operations of the firewall of FIG. 3 or theprocess of FIG. 4. Attack detection device 500 is comprised of a trafficprocessor 530, a traffic filter 550, an attack detection element 570,and an attack information generator 560. Attack detection device 500monitors incoming network traffic, detects an attack, generates attackinformation, and forwards the attack information out on the network toother devices. Network traffic is received and processed by trafficprocessor 530. In a packet network system, for example, network trafficprocessor 530 may strip off layer 1 and layer 2 network headers andforward the remaining information.

Input/output lines 540 connect traffic processor 530 to other entities,such as networks and devices. Traffic processor 530 receives and outputstraffic on input/output lines 540, and handles traffic processingbetween attack detection device 500 and the entities that attackdetection device 500 is connected to via input/output lines 540.

Traffic processor 530 may forward incoming traffic to traffic filter 550and attack detection element 570. Traffic filter 550 filters theincoming traffic and may perform filter-based operations on the traffic,such as traffic discarding and statistics gathering. Traffic filter 550passes the filtered traffic to traffic processor 530. Traffic processor530 may process the filtered traffic from traffic filter 550 and forwardthe filtered traffic out on the appropriate lines of input/output lines540.

Traffic filter 550 sends filtering results to attack detection 570.Filtering results may include incoming traffic, information regardingthe incoming traffic, and filter-based information created and collectedby traffic filter 550.

Attack detection element 570 may analyze the incoming traffic and theinformation from traffic filter 550, and detect attacks based on thetraffic, the information from traffic filter 550, or both. In responseto detecting an attack, attack detection 570 sends information relatedto the attack to attack information generator 560.

Attack information generator 560 creates attack information based on theinformation from attack detection element 570. The attack informationmay include information defining characteristics of the attack. Forexample, the attack information may include information that can be usedin filtering out traffic that appears to be part of a detected attack.

Attack information generator 560 may forward the attack information totraffic filter 550. Traffic filter 550 may then use the attackinformation to create new filters or modify existing filters to filterout traffic that appears to be part of a detected attack.

Attack information generator 560 may also forward the attack informationto traffic processor 530. Traffic processor 530 may forward the attackinformation to one or more devices in a network, and the devices may usethe attack information to filter traffic that appears to be part of theattack detected by attack detection element 570. In one embodimentconsistent with the principles of the invention, traffic processor 530sends the attack information on the network using packets, and maypiggyback the attack information on a link state routing protocol.

Traffic filter 550 may also determine whether the amount of data itreceives after the attack has been detected exceeds a threshold. Forexample, after the attack information has been forwarded, other networkdevices, such as routers A-D may begin filtering traffic, as describedin more detail below. Traffic filter 550 may then monitor the receiveddata to determine if the amount or rate of received data exceeds athreshold. The threshold may be associated with the processingcapability of the device to which attack detection device 500 isconnected, such as a server (FIG. 3) or the capacity of the link(s)between attack detection device 500 and the destination of the data. Ifthe data exceeds the threshold, traffic filter 550 may generate acontrol message to be sent to the other network devices, such as routersA-D, that will instruct the other devices to further restrict the rateof data being forwarded to the firewall, as described in more detailbelow.

The arrows in FIG. 5 illustrate general information flow. In practice,the elements may exchange information with each other as necessary tocarry out the functionality of attack detection device 500. FIG. 5illustrates particular elements relevant to embodiments consistent withthe principles of the invention. Other elements may be included. Forexample, attack device 500 may be a standalone device or may be includedin another device. Moreover, attack detection device 500 may be used ina firewall, such as the firewall illustrated in FIG. 3. In embodimentsconsistent with the principles of the invention, traffic filter 550,attack detection 570, and attack information generator 560 may beimplemented as one or more separate elements and may be implementedentirely in hardware, entirely in software, or in both hardware andsoftware.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process performed by an attack response device. Theattack response device 720 (FIG. 7) may be used in a network device,such as router B of FIG. 3. Attack response device 720 receives theattack information in control packets from an attack detection device(act 610), such as device 500, and configures itself based on the attackinformation (act 620). Configuring may include, for example, creating afilter or configuring an existing filter based on the attackinformation. The router then proceeds to detect and discard maliciouspackets based on the new configuration (act 630).

In addition to discarding or rate limiting malicious packets, attackresponse devices may also perform other monitoring of an attack, such ascounting the number of discarded or malicious packets. The monitoringinformation may be used in subsequent analysis of an attack. Analyzingthe attack may include, for example, identifying the source of theattack. Attacks may be initiated by one device and carried out byothers. In such cases, the initiator does not necessarily correspond tothe source address in the malicious packets, since an invalid sourceaddress might have been used. The attack response device may send theinformation regarding the attack back to the firewall for furtheranalysis.

Thus, the router distributed filter configuration process of FIG. 6 mayinclude additional acts, such as monitoring attacks and communicatingwith the firewall regarding ongoing issues with the attack.

FIG. 7 illustrates an attack response device consistent with theprinciples of the invention. The attack response device 720 may carryout the malicious packet detection and discard operations described withrespect to FIG. 3. For example, attack response device 720 may be usedin a network device, such as routers A, B, and C of FIG. 3. Attackresponse device 720 may also carry out the process described withrespect to FIG. 6. Attack response device 720 comprises a trafficprocessor 730, a traffic filter 750, a traffic router 760, and an attackconfiguration generator 770. Attack response device 720 receives attackinformation and creates or configures existing filters so that thefilters detect and discard traffic that appears to be part of an attack.

Traffic processor 730 receives traffic from input/output lines 740 andoutputs traffic on input/output lines 740. Traffic processor 730 mayprocess incoming traffic and forward the incoming traffic to trafficfilter 750.

Traffic filter 750 filters the incoming traffic. Traffic filter 750 isconnected to traffic processor 730, traffic router 760, and attackconfiguration generator 770. Filtering may include any type ofconventional filtering operation, such as discarding network traffic,collecting statistics, and modifying bits in the network traffic ifcertain criteria are met. Some of the information developed by trafficfilter 750 may be sent to attack configuration generator 770. Trafficfilter 750 forwards traffic that is not discarded to traffic router 760.

In implementations consistent with the principles of the invention,traffic filter 750 may classify received traffic into one or morecategories and filter the received traffic based on its particularcategory, as described in more detail below. Traffic filter 750 mayclassify a data packet as being in a particular one of the categoriesbased on one or more parameters or characteristics associated with thedata packet.

For example, traffic filter 750 may categorize data packets based oninformation contained in the IP header of the data packet. Suchinformation may include the source address, destination address, classof service, length and protocol associated with the data packet. Theinformation may also include information in a transmission controlprotocol (TCP) header or user datagram protocol (UDP) header, such as aport number. Traffic filter 750 may categorize packets based on one ormore of these or other parameters associated with the packets. Forexample, data packets having a particular source address/destinationaddress pair may be included in a first category. Data packets having aparticular protocol field value or a particular class of service fieldvalue may be included in a second category. Data packets having othervalues in particular fields or combinations of fields may be grouped inother categories. In addition, data packets not having the particularcharacteristics associated with one of the categories may be classifiedin a general category. In summary, traffic filter 750 may be configuredto identify any particular field, combination of fields or othercharacteristic(s)/parameter(s) associated with a data packet andcategorize the data packet into one of the predefined categories.

Traffic filter 750 may then filter the traffic in each category based ona particular rate limit associated with the corresponding category. Forexample, traffic filter 750 may be preconfigured to store the rate limitinformation prior to an attack being detected. The rate limitinformation may be different for one or more of the categories oftraffic. Alternatively, traffic filter 750 may receive the rate limitinformation from another device, such as attack detection device 500,along with that attack information indicating that the attack has beendetected (FIG. 6, act 610). In either case, once attack response device720 is notified of the attack, traffic filter 750 may begin filteringdata traffic based on the particular rate limits. Traffic filter 750passes an amount of data that does not exceed the rate limits for eachcategory to traffic router 760. Traffic filter 750 may drop packets thatexceed the rate limits for each category of data. Traffic router 760 maythen forward the data received from traffic filter 750 to trafficprocessor 730 for output via the appropriate input/output lines 740.

In other implementations consistent with the principles of theinvention, traffic filter 750 may be configured to filter traffic priorto an attack being detected. In this case, the stored rate limitinformation may be set to relatively high values for each category ofdata so that under non-attack situations, all or substantially all ofthe received data is forwarded to its destination. When an attackoccurs, however, the traffic filter 750 may begin filtering potentialattack traffic prior to being notified of the attack by another device.

Traffic filter 750 may also receive rate limit adjustments from anotherdevice, such as attack detection device 500, and adjust the rate limitsfor each category accordingly. For example, if attack detection device500 determines that the received data exceeds the processing capabilityof the server or router to which the data is destined, attack detectiondevice 500 may adjust the rate limits accordingly. For example, if thedestination device coupled to attack detection device 500 (e.g., theserver in FIG. 3) is overloaded by a factor of two, attack detectiondevice 500 may send information to attack response device 720 indicatingthat the rate limits for each of the categories of data should be cut by50%. Attack response device 720 may then filter the received data basedon the updated rate limits. That is, traffic filter 750 may adjust itsfiltering based on the updated rate limits. Attack detection device 500may continue to monitor the received data and dynamically adjust therate limits in this manner to ensure that the server or other device(s)coupled to attack detection device 500 (or their corresponding link(s))are not overloaded.

Traffic router 760 is connected to traffic filter 750, traffic processor730, and attack configuration generator 770. Traffic router 760determines which of input/output lines 740 the network traffic should besent out on, and forwards the traffic to traffic processor 730. Inembodiments consistent with the principles of the invention, attackresponse device 720 may use any one of a variety of traffic processingtechniques. For example, traffic router 760 may receive actual traffic,such as packets, from traffic filter 750, or simply a representation ofthe traffic, such as packet header information. In the latterimplementation, traffic processor 730 may buffer the traffic data untilreceiving information from traffic router 760 regarding where thetraffic data should be routed.

Some of the network traffic received by traffic router 760 may includeattack information. Traffic router 760 forwards this traffic to attackconfiguration generator 770.

Attack configuration generator 770 receives the attack configurationinformation from traffic router 760 and the filter information fromtraffic filter 750, and develops attack configuration information. Theattack configuration information defines characteristics of an attackthat is used by traffic filter 750 to create new filters or modifyexisting filters, or both. Attack configuration generator 770 may alsomonitor ongoing attacks based on information received from trafficfilter 750.

Attack configuration generator 770 may also send information regardingan attack to traffic router 760, which forwards the information totraffic processor 730 for output on input/output lines 740. This allowsattack related information to be sent to other devices on the network.For example, the original attack information, or other attackinformation generated by attack configuration generator 770, or both,may be forwarded to one or more other attack response devices, such asattack devices in other routers in the network. The attack informationor newly generated attack information may also be sent back to theoriginator of the attack information, such as a firewall.

The arrows in FIG. 7 illustrate general information flow. In practice,the elements may exchange information with each other as necessary tocarry out the functionality of attack response device 720. FIG. 7illustrates particular elements relevant to embodiments consistent withthe principles of the invention. Other elements may be included. Forexample, attack response device 720 may be a standalone device or may beincluded in another device. In embodiments consistent with theprinciples of the invention, traffic filter 750, traffic router 760, andattack configuration generator 770 may be implemented as one or moreseparate elements and may be implemented entirely in hardware, entirelyin software, or in both hardware and software.

Transmitting Attack Information

The firewall may send attack information to a router using a signal, oneor more bits, fields, or packets, or some combination of these. Theattack information may be sent using protocols typically used toconfigure routers, such as SNMP, HTTP/HTML, or XML.

To optimize distributed filtering, it may be desirable to discardpackets at some distance from the server being attacked. Discardingmalicious packets close to the source minimizes the need to carrymalicious packets through the network. Also, it is desirable to discardvarious streams of malicious packets before the streams merge into alarge stream, to reduce the likelihood of congestion in parts of thenetwork.

To discard malicious packets close to their source, a firewall mayadvertise the attack information to routers throughout a network. Ingeneral, this requires flooding the attack information to multiplerouters. A special-purpose flooding mechanism may be used foradvertising the information. Special-purpose flooding mechanisms,however, can be complex to design, implement, test, debug, and deploy.

Advertising attack information in the network may be achieved withoutdesigning a special-purpose flooding mechanism. Commonly deployed linkstate routing protocols, such as OSPF or IS-IS, often include a reliableway to flood information throughout a network or area. Link staterouting protocols are used by routers to exchange information regardingnetwork topology among routers so that each router can compute paths todestinations within the network and to destinations outside the network.The link state information is advertised by the routers by flooding thenetwork with link state packets.

A link state routing protocol can be thought of as divided into threeclear phases:

(1) Hello: Each router exchanges packets with its immediate neighbors inorder to determine and verify its local topology.

(2) Flooding: Each router creates an advertisement, or series ofadvertisements, which completely describe its local topology, and thenfloods these advertisements in a reliable fashion to other routers inthe network. As a result of this phase, all routers in the network orwithin an area of the network have a complete and identical map of thetopology of the network or area.

(3) Route computation: Each router runs a route computation on its mapof the network (or area) in order to compute paths.

In embodiments consistent with the principles of the invention, attackinformation may also be distributed in the routing packets, such as linkstate routing packets (such as IS-IS, OSPF, or PNNI) or path vectorrouting packets (such as BGP). Thus, attack information may bepiggybacked on conventional link state routing information. For example,the “Link State Packets” (used in IS-IS) or “Link State Advertisements(LSAs)” (used in OSPF) may be used to distribute the attack information.

With IS-IS, a new “Type/Length/Value” (TLV) triplet contained within alink state packet may be used to carry the attack information. WithOSPF, a new “Opaque Link State Advertisement” may be used. IS-IS andOSPF have the capability to carry various forms of information in thismanner. Therefore, in embodiments consistent with the principles of theinvention, TLVs and/or Opaque LSAs may be used specifically for thepurpose of carrying attack information.

Conventional firewalls and servers typically do not participate in theoperation of routing protocols and therefore are not configured tohandle link state routing protocols. Firewalls consistent with theprinciples of the present invention, however, may insert attackinformation in the link state routing information. Inserting attackinformation in the link state routing information may be accomplished inseveral ways. Three examples of inserting attack information are givenbelow: proxy operation, send only operation, and full routing operation.

1. Proxy Operation

With proxy operation, the firewall detects an attack, develops attackinformation defining characteristics of the attack, and sends the attackinformation to one local router, or a small number of local routers,describing which packets need to be discarded (e.g., which filters needto be turned on or reconfigured in the routers). The local router orrouters then acts as a proxy to other routers, and sends thisinformation in link state information to other routers. For example, theattack information may be included in Link State Packets (IS-IS) or LinkState Advertisements (OSPF). A simple protocol may be used fortransmitting the attack information between firewalls and routers, andmay use existing protocols, such as SNMP or HTTP/HTML.

Proxy operation has several advantages. It avoids adding the firewallsto the set of systems taking part in the operation of the routingprotocol, and it avoids other complications, discussed in greater detailbelow.

FIG. 8 illustrates piggybacking attack information on link state routinginformation using proxy operation. The firewall detects an attack, andsends attack information to router D. Router D includes the informationin link state information that is sent to routers A, B, and C, RoutersA, B, and C, may in turn include the attack information in link stateinformation forwarded to other routers in the network.

2. Send Only Operation

With send only operation, a firewall or server participates in theoperation of the link state protocol, and sends information specifyingattack information that it wants routers to use. The firewall or server,however, does not maintain link state information from other systems.

3. Full Routing Operation

With full routing operation, the firewall participates as a normal nodein the operation of the link state routing protocol.

FIG. 9 illustrates use of a firewall between routers. In FIG. 9, thereis a firewall between router D and router G. In this topology, router Dwill normally be running a routing protocol directly with router G. Thefirewall would then normally be invisible to the routing protocol.

If router D and router G use routing protocols to carry attackinformation, then the particular way this is implemented depends on themethod used to insert attack information into the routing protocols. Forexample, carrying attack information using the proxy operation, sendonly operation, and the full routing operation, will be implemented indifferent ways.

If proxy operation is used, then there is little complexity. Thefirewall exchanges control information with either router D or router G,or both. The router will then insert the appropriate information intolink state information.

If send only operation is used, then the firewall will transmitinformation using the link state routing protocol, but will not receiverouting information. With this approach, router D and router G will needto continue to operate as normal routing neighbors. This implies thatrouter D or router G should have two logical interfaces on one physicalinterface. For example, router D may have an interface to both thefirewall and router G on the same physical interface. Fortunately, thisis very similar to current operation over local area networks (LANs)—arouter may have interfaces to multiple other routers over the same LAN.The send only operation may therefore be used with conventional routersand conventional routing protocols over LAN interfaces.

If full routing operation is used, then the firewall participates in theoperation of the routing protocol as if it is a normal router. Thefirewall may then be thought of as a normal router which has only twointerfaces, but which has additional capability, such as attackdetection and definition of attack information.

Router Configuration and Rate Limiting

Configuration of the router based on the attack information from thefirewall may require creating a new filter or modifying an existing one.Several particular situations may arise in configuring the router.

In many cases attacks consist of a large number of a certain type ofcommunication, such as transmission control protocol synchronization(TCP SYN) packets. In some cases, therefore, the attack information froma firewall that is applied by routers may include information definingthe type of packets being sent, and may, for example, specificallydiscard or rate limit packets of a certain kind, such as TCP SYNpackets. In the case that additional attacks develop, the attackinformation may be defined by the firewall in a way that is specific tothe types of packets used in these other attacks.

One advantage of distributed filtering is that it protects againstcongestion in network resources between the firewall and the routersparticipating in the distributed filtering operation. Preventingcongestion does not, however, necessarily require that all packets bediscarded. Also, discarding all packets may have the unfortunate effectof inadvertently discarding valid packets (i.e., packets from legitimateusers) along with the malicious packets. In some cases this might occureven after the attack has stopped, or in a part of the network where theattack has been stopped or where the attack has never occurred.

As described above, rate limiting may be used with distributedfiltering. That is, one or more routers may classify packets into anumber of categories. The router will then determine, using filters forexample, how many packets belong to each category and will discardpackets from each category if the amount of traffic for that categoryexceeds a defined threshold. If an attack persists, this implies thatthe router will discard some, and possibly most of the maliciouspackets. Some packets, however, will be allowed to pass. In someimplementations, the rate limits for each router are chosen to be smallenough so as not to cause excessive congestion in the network. In otherimplementations, the rate limits may be set to be fairly large, sincemost sources will not be sending data at all times. However, if all thesources are sending large amounts of data, such as during an attack, theamount of data that the firewall receives may overwhelm the firewalland/or the server.

In general it may be difficult to precisely set the rate limits suchthat attack traffic is sufficiently filtered while also allowinglegitimate traffic to be forwarded on to its destination. If the limitsare set too low, then legitimate traffic may be discarded even in theabsence of an attack and the server may be under-utilized. However, ifthe limits are set too high, then when an attack occurs, the totaltraffic arriving at the server may overwhelm the server.

In accordance with an exemplary implementation consistent with theprinciples of the invention, the rate limits may be dynamicallyadjusted. For example, as discussed above, either a priori or when anattack occurs, distributed filters may be set to limit the trafficpassing each filtering router to a certain rate. After the attack hasbeen detected, the original rate limits may be modified based on theamount of received attack traffic and other non-attack traffic, asdescribed in more detail below.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating dynamically adjustingthe rate limits consistent with principles of the invention. Processingmay begin when an attack is detected (act 1010). As described previouslywith respect to FIGS. 4 and 5, attack detection device 500 may detectthe attack and generate attack information that defines one or morecharacteristics of the attack traffic. The description below assumesthat attack detection device 500 (FIG. 5) is implemented in a firewall,such as the firewall of FIG. 3. Attack detection device 500 may also beimplemented in other network devices, such as a router, a server or anintrusion detection system. After an attack is detected, the firewallmay set rate limits for various types of traffic (act 1020). The ratelimits may be different for one or more of the categories. For example,one or more categories may be considered to be high priority categoriesand may have higher rate limits than other categories.

The firewall may send the rate limit information and the attackinformation to one or more routers in the network (act 1020). In oneimplementation, the firewall may send the rate limit information alongwith the attack identification information. For example, referring toFIG. 3, the firewall may send the attack and rate limit information torouter D. Router D may then forward the attack and rate limitinformation to other routers in the network, such as routers A, B and C.Alternatively, the firewall may broadcast the information to all routersin the network.

As described above, in some implementations, the routers may bepreconfigured to store the rate limit information prior to an attackbeing detected. In this case, the firewall may not have to send theoriginal rate limits and may just send the attack information to therouter(s).

In either case, the routers, such as routers A-D, receive the attackinformation and may then configure their filters based on the rate limitinformation (act 1030). The routers may then filter received trafficbased on the rate limits. As described previously, in implementations inwhich the routers are preconfigured with the rate limit information,these routers may filter traffic based on the preconfigured rate limitsprior to the attack being detected. In this case, the rate limits may beset to be relatively high such that substantially all of the traffic isforwarded.

After the attack begins and the routers begin filtering the data, thetotal amount of data received by the firewall (e.g., the total bandwidthsummed across all filtering routers) may exceed the maximum capacitywhich can be adequately handled by the firewall and/or the server towhich the data is destined. The firewall may then determine whether thearriving traffic exceeds a predetermined threshold (act 1040). Thepredetermined threshold may be associated with the capacity andprocessing capability of the firewall itself, the processingcapability/capacity of the device to which the data is destined (e.g.,the server in FIG. 3), and/or the capacity of the link(s) between thefirewall and the destination device. If the firewall determines that thearriving traffic is more than the predetermined threshold, the firewallmay lower the rate limits (act 1050).

For example, the firewall may determine that the amount of received datais two times the predetermined threshold. In this case, the firewall(e.g., traffic filter 550) may send control information to the routersindicating that the rate limit for each of the categories of data shouldbe cut in half. In alternative implementations, the control informationmay indicate that rate limits for various categories should be cut by acertain amount, while other categories may be cut by other amounts. Inthis case, the firewall may analyze the received data and the rates forthe particular categories to determine the appropriate rate limitadjustments that may be necessary. The firewall may then send controlinformation to routers A-D indicating that the rate limits for thespecified categories of data are to be reduced. In some implementationsconsistent with principles of the invention, the control information mayspecify a new rate for packets of one or more categories. In otherimplementations, the control information may indicate that the previousrate limits for one or more categories are to be cut by a predeterminedamount, such as a fixed percentage. For example, if the firewall isoverloaded by a factor of two, the control information may indicate thatthe previous rate limits are to be cut in half. Routers A-D may thenadjust their filters in accordance with the new rate limit information.In this manner, routers A-D will reconfigure their filters (e.g.,traffic filters 750) and begin forwarding fewer packets to the firewall.

If the firewall determines that the arriving traffic is significantlyless than the predetermined threshold, the firewall may send controlinformation to routers A-D that specify that the rate limits may becomeless strict, i.e., the rate limits may be increased (act 1060). Forexample, if the received traffic is 25% less than the predeterminedthreshold, the control information may indicate that the routers mayincrease the rate limits by, for example, 20%. In some implementationsconsistent with the principles of the invention, the control informationmay specify a new rate for packets of one or more of the datacategories. In other implementations, the control information mayindicate that the previous rate limits may be increased by apredetermined amount, such as a fixed percentage. Routers A-D may thenadjust their filters in accordance with the new rate limit information.In this manner, routers A-D may reconfigure their filters (e.g., trafficfilters 750) and begin forwarding more packets to the firewall.

The process may then be repeated and the firewall may continue todynamically adjust the rate limits for the various categories of databased on the received traffic. If the attack subsides in a part of thenetwork, a router in that part of the network will find that the numberof packets passing through the filter (i.e., legitimate user packetsbecause the attack has ended in that part of the network) is smallenough that the threshold is not passed. In this case, the packets willbe forwarded, and legitimate users can therefore obtain proper deliveryto their destination.

After the attack subsides, the firewall may send information to routersA-D indicating that the attack is over. Routers A-D may then reconfiguretheir filters to stop filtering traffic intended for the firewall.

In this manner, the firewall may dynamically adjust the rate limits forone or more categories of data traffic in an attempt to counter anattack. In some implementations consistent with principles of theinvention, traffic which is identified as originating a new session to aserver (such as packets containing a TCP SYN packet) may define aseparate category and may be rate limited more stringently than trafficwhich is part of existing sessions. This is because traffic associatedwith originating a new session may consume more resources of thedestination device (e.g., the server in FIG. 3) or the routers and maybe more likely to be part of the attack.

In other implementations consistent with principles of the invention,certain types of packets may be identified and categorized as “good”packets. The routers may be configured to guarantee bandwidth for thegood packets, as described in more detail below.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating processing associatedwith “good” packets consistent with principles of the invention.Processing may being by storing information identifying certain types ofpackets, referred to as “good” packets (act 1110). For example, packetsidentified as being routing protocol traffic from a known peer routermay be categorized as good packets. As another example, packetsidentified as originating from a trusted source, such as from a centralmanagement facility, may be categorized as good packets. Other packetsmay also be identified as good packets in implementations consistentwith the principles of the invention based on the particular userrequirements.

The routers may be configured to guarantee bandwidth to these goodpackets and not rate limit the good packets (act 1120). Alternatively,the rate limits for good packets may be set to a high rate such that allor nearly all of the good packets (e.g., 99% or more) are forwarded. Therate guarantees for the good packets may be done a priori and may beprestored by the routers. Alternatively, the rate guarantees may be setby the firewall based on the amount of received traffic and may beforwarded to the routers.

In either case, when a router receives a packet, the router determineswhether the packet is a good packet (act 1130). If the packet is a goodpacket, the router forwards the packet in accordance with the bandwidthguarantee or rate limit information for good packets (act 1140). Asdiscussed above, the bandwidth or rate limit may be set such that all orsubstantially all good packets are forwarded to their destination andfew, if any, of the good packets are dropped. In this case, if theattack traffic happens to have the same characteristic(s) as the goodtraffic, the attack traffic may also be forwarded. The firewall,however, may adjust the guaranteed bandwidth in a similar manner asother traffic in the manner described with respect to FIG. 10.

The descriptions of packets used for filters may in some cases includemultiple similar packets in the same filters. In some cases, whenconsidering the pre-configured filters, the attack packets may havecharacteristics which cause them to match the same filter as goodpackets. However, additional characteristics of the attack packets,which were not originally considered in the pre-configured filter, mightallow them to be distinguished from good packets. In this case, anadditional filter may be defined to distinguish the attack packets fromthe good packets, and the attack packets may then be discarded or ratelimited separately from the good packets.

If the router determines that the packet is not a good packet, therouter filters the packet based on the rate limit information associatedwith particular category of data packet (1150). That is, the routerfilters the packet based on the particular category in which the datapacket is classified, as described above with respect to FIG. 10.

After a router has been configured to detect and drop malicious packets,it may be useful to remove the configuration. Generally speaking, agiven attack will continue for only a limited period of time. Removingthe configuration may be easy to do when link state routing is used totransfer the attack information. Link state routing protocols alreadyhave methods to flush information. For example, a given Link StateAdvertisement (OSPF) or Link State Packet (IS-IS) can be “flushed” (andannouncement can be flooded indicating that the LSA or LSP no longerexists), or a replacement LSA/LSP can be flooded containing newinformation (or even containing no information if desired).

Preventing Malicious Filter Configuration

An attacker who learns how the attack information is sent to configurerouters in the network may attempt to maliciously configure the routersby sending fabricated attack information. In response to the fabricatedattack information, a router will incorrectly configure itself to filterpackets that are not actually malicious, but are defined to be maliciousby the fabricated attack information.

To prevent this, the firewall filter may make use of strongauthentication and/or encryption techniques. For example, IP Security(IPSec) may be used. IPSec is a tunneling protocol for setting up pathsbetween network devices, such as paths between a firewall or server anda router. IPSec provides a method of authentication and/or encryptionand protects data in transit from eavesdropping and attacks. IPSec alsouses cryptography to protect communications or links between devices.Other security measures may also be used between the firewall and therouters to prevent attackers from surreptitiously turning on filters.

Central Management Embodiment

FIG. 12 illustrates a distributed filtering system using a centralmanagement system consistent with the principles of the invention. Thedistributed filtering system of FIG. 12 includes a physically separatefirewall as well as a server configured with a firewall 1202. Eachfirewall participates in detecting an attack. In response to detectingan attack, or some sort of indication of an attack, each firewallcreates attack information defining what has been detected regarding theattack, and sends the attack information to router D and centralmanagement system 1210. The attack information may come from one or bothof the firewalls.

Central management system 1210 receives the attack information and usesthe information to assist in coordinating a response to the attack. Forexample, central management system 1210 may forward the attackinformation directly to routers B and C, the routers connected tomalicious users. Central management system 1210 may also analyze theattack information and develop alternative attack information that isforwarded to routers B and C. Central management system 1210 may alsocollect information from routers indicating the number of packets and/orbytes which have been found to match the filters. For example, thismight include the number of packets which have been discarded due tofilters, or the number of packets which have been found to match therate limits which have been set in routers.

Central management system 1210 may also receive information from arouter, such as router D, or a firewall, such as firewall 1202,indicating an amount of data that matches the attack characteristics.For example, a router or firewall may count a number of packets and/orbytes that match the attack characteristics, such as packets having aparticular source address-destination address pair, a particularprotocol field value, a particular TCP SYN field value, etc. The routeror firewall may then forward this information to central managementsystem 1210. Central management system 1210 receives this informationand may store or log the data in a memory. The log may store historicaldata associated with monitoring data traffic on the network. Centralmanagement system 1210 may also present information associated with thereceived data to a network operator responsible for monitoring thenetwork. The information may be presented as an alert based on thereceived count information that indicates the number of packets/bytesthat correspond to attack data.

For example, if the attack-related count is relatively high, centralmanagement system 1210 may provide an audible and/or visual alert to thenetwork operator indicating that action must be taken based on thereceived count information. The network operator may then enter commandsto central management system 1210 to respond to the attack. The commandsmay be based on the received count value associated with attack data.Alternatively, central management system 1210 may be pre-configured toautomatically provide commands based on the received attack information.In either case, the commands may also be based on historical dataassociated with the network and configuration data associated with thenetwork. The historical and configuration data may include informationgained from managing and responding to previous attacks.

Central management system 1210 may then forward this attack responseinformation to other devices, such as routers A-D and firewalls,indicating the appropriate response. The attack response information mayinclude rate limit information associated with rate limiting one or morecategories of traffic, as described above with respect to FIG. 10.

Central management system 1210 may also received updated countinformation representing attack-related data from the other networkdevices. The updates may be received at predetermined intervals. Centralmanagement system 1210 may then generate updated response informationbased on the updated attack data. For example, if the updated attackdata indicates that the attack has subsided or ceased, centralmanagement system 1210 may send information to the various distributedfiltering devices indicating that rate limiting may be stopped. In thismanner, central management system 1210 may be used to set and controlthe distributed filtering and the associated rate limits based oninformation received from one or more network devices, such asfirewalls, routers or intrusion detection systems.

Router D may also respond to the attack information by configuring itsfilters based on the attack information. Router D, as discussed above,may receive attack information from central management system 1210 andconfigure its filters based on the attack information.

Central management system 1210 may also perform support functionsrelated to attack detection and prevention, such as logging eventsassociated with the attack or collecting other information regarding theattacks. Central management system 1210 is illustrated as being locatedin the network, but in other embodiments consistent with the principlesof the invention central management system 1210 may be located outsidethe network, or may be implemented as part of a network device, such asrouter D. In other embodiments consistent with the principles of theinvention, central management system 1210 is comprised of distributedcomponents. For example, the components may be distributed in thenetwork, outside the network, or both. The components cooperate tocollect and process attack information, forward attack information torouters in the network for distributed filtering.

Although FIG. 12 illustrates two firewalls, in another embodimentconsistent with the principles of the invention, there may be acombination of servers with firewalls and physically separate firewalls,each implementing complex stateful filters that are needed for initialdetection of attacks, such as DOS and DDOS attacks. The servers andfirewalls may be centrally located or distributed, and may be connectedto the network through a single router, or through multiple otherdevices.

Dual-Homed Firewall

FIG. 13 illustrates a dual-homed firewall. This dual-homed firewall hasinterfaces to two different routers, routers D and H, towards the coreof the network. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that router Ddoes not try to forward traffic destined for router H via the firewall.Ensuring that router D does not try to forward traffic destined forrouter H via the firewall may depend upon which link state routingprotocol is used, as well as the particular method used to insert attackinformation into the routing protocols. With proxy operation, forexample, the firewall does not participate in operation of the routingprotocol, so this problem does not occur.

For some link state routing protocols (e.g., IS-IS, PNNI) it is possiblefor systems to say that they are “non-transit” or “reduced operation.”In this case, a router will not choose to forward packets via thatsystem unless there is no other path available.

In other cases, the metrics assigned to links can be set to preventincorrect routing. For example, suppose that in FIG. 13 the linksbetween the firewall and router D and router H are set to have verylarge metric values. In this case, if router D has a packet destined forrouter H, it will choose a different path in order to avoid thelarge-metric costs on the paths via the firewall.

CONCLUSION

Although the embodiments described herein have been described mainly inconjunction with using a firewall to detect attacks, in otherembodiments consistent with the principles of the invention, a router, aserver, an intrusion detection system or other network device may beused to monitor network traffic, detect an attack, develop attackinformation based on the attack, and send the attack information toother devices in the network. The other devices can then configurethemselves based on the attack information to detect and discardparticular types of network traffic. The other devices may also ratelimit the particular types of network traffic and adjust the ratelimiting based on network conditions. Although the embodiments describedherein focused on single attacks to explain aspects of the invention, itis understood that systems and methods consistent with the principles ofthe invention also handle multiple simultaneous attacks. After an attackdetection device detects an attack and forwards attack information toattack response devices, the attack detection device will in generalcontinue monitoring for other attacks. Similarly, the attack detectiondevice may discover multiple attacks over time, or multiple differentattack detection devices may discover multiple attacks, and therefore atany one point in time the attack response devices may have multiplefilters in effect discarding or rate limiting attack traffic.

Also, systems, devices and methods consistent with the invention havebeen described as processing data packets. In alternativeimplementations, system, devices and methods consistent with theprinciples of the invention may process other, non-packet data. Inaddition, certain portions of the invention may have been described as“logic” that performs one or more functions. This logic may includehardware, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or afield programmable gate array (FPGA), software or a combination ofhardware and software. Further, while series of acts have been describedin relation to FIGS. 4, 6, 10 and 11, the order of the acts may vary inother implementations when a particular order is not required andnon-dependent acts may be performed in parallel. In addition, while someprocessing has been described as being performed by particularcomponents of the various network devices, it should be understood thatthe processing described as being performed by one component may beperformed by other components in alternative implementations of thepresent invention.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. For example, while the invention has beendescribed in connection with configuring a router to detect and discardmalicious packets, embodiments consistent with the principles of theinvention may also be used, for example, in a switch, a server or othernetworking devices in systems that undergo attacks. It is intended thatthe specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with atrue scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the followingclaims.

1. A network device, comprising: a receiver configured to receive datafrom a network; and logic configured to: detect an attack based on thereceived data, and transmit first control information to at least oneother network device in the network after detecting the attack, thefirst control information identifying a plurality of categories of dataand rate limits associated with forwarding data for each of theplurality of categories.
 2. The network device of claim 1, wherein thereceiver is further configured to: receive additional data from thenetwork after the first control information has been transmitted, andwherein the logic is further configured to: determine whether theadditional data exceeds a threshold, and transmit second controlinformation to the at least one other network device, the second controlinformation instructing the at least one other network device to adjusta rate at which it forwards data.
 3. The network device of claim 1,wherein the logic is configured to assign different rate limits for atleast two of the plurality of categories of traffic.
 4. The networkdevice of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to: receiveadditional data from the network after the first control information hasbeen transmitted, generate updated rate limit information atpredetermined intervals based on at least one of a processing capabilityof the network device, a processing capability of a device to which thereceived additional data is destined and a rate at which the receivedadditional data is received, and transmit the updated rate limitinformation to the at least one other network device.
 5. The networkdevice of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to: transmitsecond control information to the at least one other network device, thesecond control information identifying a first category of data andincluding information indicating that the at least one other networkdevice is to guarantee a data bandwidth for the first category of data.6. The network device of claim 5, wherein the first category of datacomprises data from known sources.
 7. A network device, comprising: areceiver configured to: receive and forward data in a network, andreceive first control information from at least one other networkdevice, the first control information indicating that an attack has beendetected; and logic configured to: classify data in one of a pluralityof categories based on at least one parameter associated with the data,set different rate limits for at least two of the plurality ofcategories, and limit an amount of data that is forwarded based on theclassifying.
 8. The network device of claim 7, wherein the receiver isfurther configured to: receive second control information from the atleast one other network device, the second control information includingupdated rate limit information, and wherein the logic is furtherconfigured to: adjust a rate at which the logic forwards data based onthe updated rate limit information.
 9. The network device of claim 7,wherein when limiting an amount of data, the logic is further configuredto: filter data classified in a first one of the plurality of categoriesbased on a corresponding rate limit for the first category.
 10. Thenetwork device of claim of claim 7, wherein the first controlinformation comprises information identifying a first one of theplurality of categories of data and a corresponding rate limit for thefirst category and wherein the logic is further configured to: filterdata corresponding to the first category based on the rate limit for thefirst category.
 11. The network device of claim 7, wherein the logic isfurther configured to: identify data corresponding to a first categoryone of the plurality of categories, forward substantially all of theidentified data corresponding to the first category of data after theattack has been detected, and rate limit data forwarded in a second oneof the plurality of categories after the attack has been detected. 12.The network device of claim 11, wherein the first category of datacomprises data received from at least one of known and trusted sources.13. A system for responding to a network attack, comprising: means forreceiving first control information indicating that an attack has beendetected; means for receiving data after the first control informationhas been received; means for classifying the received data in one of aplurality of categories based on at least one parameter associated withthe received data; and means for filtering the classified data based ona rate limit associated with the corresponding category, wherein atleast two of the plurality of categories have different rate limits. 14.The system of claim 13, further comprising: means for receiving secondcontrol information comprising updated rate limit information; and meansfor adjusting the means for filtering based on the updated rate limitinformation.
 15. A network device, comprising: a receiver configured to:receive and forward data in a network, and receive first controlinformation from at least one other network device, the first controlinformation indicating that an attack has been detected; and logicconfigured to: identify a first category of data based on at least oneparameter associated with the received data, and guarantee that at leasta first amount of the identified data corresponding to the firstcategory of data will be forwarded after the attack has been detected.16. The network device of claim 15, wherein the first category of datacomprises data received from at least one of known and trusted sources.